My last post was about the fact that Jesus is worth everything. And I used an illustration from R.A. Torrey to help show how Abraham had learned this truth. Today, I want to share with you the rest of what Torrey said about what happened in Abraham’s life. I want to tell you that Jesus wants you to own nothing and for you to give Him complete ownership of everything you have. If you missed the previous post and want to read the first half to “catch up,” click here: Brian’s Previous Post
At this point, Abraham has followed God’s commands, he has taken Isaac to a mountain, and he has prepared to sacrifice his son, believing that God could somehow raise him from the dead. He has raised his hand to kill Isaac, but at the very last moment God stopped Abraham. He tells him:
I never intended that you should actually slay your son. I only wanted to remove him from the temple of your heart that I might reign unchallenged there…. Now you may have the boy, sound and well…seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
The old man of God lifted his head to respond to the Voice, and stood there on the mount strong and pure and grand, a man marked out by the Lord for special treatment, a friend and favorite of the Most High. Now he was a man wholly surrendered, a man utterly obedient, a man who possessed nothing. He had concentrated his all in the person of his dear son, and God had taken it from him. God could have begun out on the margin of Abraham’s life and worked inward to the center.
But He chose rather to cut quickly to the heart and have it over in one sharp act of separation…. It hurt cruelly, but it was effective. I have said that Abraham possessed nothing. Yet was not this poor man rich? Everything he had owned before was his still to enjoy: sheep, camels, herds, and goods of every sort. He had also his wife and his friends, and best of all he had his son Isaac safe by his side.
He had everything, but he possessed nothing. There is the spiritual secret. There is the sweet theology of the heart which can be learned only in the school of renunciation. The books on systematic theology overlook this, but the wise will understand. After that bitter and blessed experience I think the words “my” and “mine” never again had the same meaning for Abraham. The sense of possession which they connote was gone from his heart. Things had been cast out forever. They had now become external to the man. His inner heart was free from them. The world said, “Abraham is rich,” but the aged patriarch only smiled. He could not explain it, but he knew that he owned nothing, that his real treasures were inward and eternal.
There can be no doubt that this possessive clinging to things is one of the most harmful habits in the life. Because it is so natural, it is rarely recognized for the evil that it is. But its outworkings are tragic. We are often hindered from giving up our treasures to the Lord out of fear for their safety. This is especially true when those treasures are loved relatives and friends. But we need have no such fears. Our Lord came not to destroy but to save.
Everything is safe which we commit to Him, and nothing is really safe which is not so committed.
Abraham committed all He had to God. He retained ownership of nothing – not even the life of His own precious child. No matter what God commanded, Abraham was willing to do. Am I a person who has committed everything to God for safe-keeping? Have I turned all that I possess over to Him so that I am now one who owns nothing and yet find myself rich in Him?
What are the things that you have refused to give to Him?
